Tax data shows that shopping-center firm Epitsentr K, a Ukrainian military donor, for years paid a manager who cultivated close ties with the pro-Russian forces in the occupied part of the Donetsk region while managing a firm nearly identical to Epitsentr K, Schemes has found.
Only one state-controlled media outlet has been able to report from inside Ukraine’s parliament since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. The government cites the risk of Russian strikes and other possible security threats to justify the ban, but critics worry that censorship is the real objective.
An analysis of satellite images by Schemes, RFE/RL's Ukrainian investigative unit, indicates that Russia is actively building up its production capacity for military equipment and developing new factories as it continues to reorient its economy toward its war against Ukraine.
A purported private military company called Redut is in reality a recruitment system for combat units that is coordinated and funded by Russia's armed forces and their intelligence agency, the GRU, RFE/RL investigative units Schemes and Systema have found. Investigative reporters Valeria Yehoshyna and Yelizaveta Surnacheva join the host to discuss the remarkable investigation and the revelations it produced.
Former Motor Sich aviation-engine plant head Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, whom the government suspects of encouraging Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has asked to be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners in Russia, RFE/RL has found.